About me

Are you struggling with your life or with your relationships? Perhaps you just need some extra help and support in a time of crisis? Sometimes our emotional distress comes out as physical tensions, pain and other symptoms, while at other times it can emerge as difficulties in relationship.

I provide counselling and psychotherapy to both couples and individuals. I work both on a short-term basis to deal with life-crises and on a longer-term basis to deal with chronic and recurrent issues.

Couples

Couples counselling offers a secure space where you can both safely open up to feel, explore and express your underlying feelings and longings to each other in a safe context that may ultimately pull you closer and and help to find some resolution to conflicts. You can recover or discover what is currently missing and work towards creating an emotionally and physically fulfilling relationship for you both.

While I normally see couples together I may also at times talk to each partner individually for a session or two. I aim to maintain a safe therapeutic space in which each partner can express their viewpoint and have that acknowledged.

You might both discover just why your partner pushes your buttons and hopefully also discover how those buttons got there in the first place.

Of course relationship counselling isn't a magic cure and while I can facilitate healing and change, it requires that you are both willing to change and give conscious attention and care to your relationship.

Individual Work

You might wish to seek support and understanding for a wide variety of reasons and I believe that we are all highly individual, both in terms of our difficulties in life and in the way that they may be resolved. Some possible reasons for seeking help are:

Feeling of depression and hopelessness, low self-esteem

Abusive relationships and difficulties in coping with a partner or relative

Anxiety about yourself and the world

Feeling stuck and wishing to avoid repeating past mistakes

These are a few of the possible reasons why you might want to seek help - though I will always treat you as an individual and not a set of symptoms

I am willing to talk on the phone or correspond by email before we meet and to meet without prior commitment to openly discuss the best way forward for you whether that ultimately involves my services or not.

Training, qualifications & experience

I trained in Integrative Body Psychotherapy with the Chiron Centre in Ealing, West London and was awarded a Certificate in Body Psychotherapy in 2005 when I started my psychotherapy practice. I have since gained my Diploma and became a member of UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy). I am now co-director of Fulcrum House therapy centre and base my practice there (at the top of Whiteladies Road.)

Additional Training

I have also completed training with Babette Rothschild on the treatment of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and undertaken further training on relationship and couples counselling with David Slattery at the Centre for Relational Couples Therapy.

I have worked in private practice in Bristol since 2005 and have had experience of a wide range of problems, including supporting people who are receiving treatment from mental health services, people with depression, people with addiction and alcohol issues, those who feel damaged by past relationships and who wish not to repeat the same patterns and people who wish to free themselves from damage resulting from their upbringing.

I am always pleased to pay attention to emotionally based physical stress and tensions which we often bring about in attempting to protect ourselves from emotional pain and distress. I have trained in and use Coherence Therapy where appropriate, which is a powerful technique for bringing the struggle with long-standing and restrictive patterns to an end.

Other areas of counselling I deal with

Therapies offered

Fees

I provide couples / relationship counselling at a normal rate of £55 per hour. My rate for individual counselling and therapy is currently £45 per hour. Reduced rates can sometimes be offered to students or those on a low income.

I work for a full hour, rather than 50 minutes and am willing to provide extended sessions if we jointly decide that is necessary and helpful.

I normally see new clients and couples once a week but am willing to consider meeting more frequently or less often if that is in your own best interests